This 3rd grade inquiry asks students to think about a challenging local public policy issue: eminent domain. The compelling question—“Was the Chickamauga Dam worth it?”—engages students in an examination of a historic eminent domain case study that happened right in their backyard. The Chickamauga Dam was a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) project — a result of FDR’s New Deal to improve the country’s infrastructure and to jump start the economy to pull the US out of the Great Depression. But, in order to build the dam, developers had to use eminent domain which displaced people in the town of Old Harrison. Students in this inquiry weigh the benefits and costs of public projects like the Chickamauga Dam and determine the impact of using eminent domain for the common good.
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